The city of Aurora is planning to hold job fairs ahead of its upcoming special census, with the first set to take place on Thursday.
The federal government is hiring for field representatives at $21 per hour, field supervisors at $24.50 per hour, and clerks at $21 per hour to help with Aurora’s special census. Although an official date has not yet been set for when the census will begin, a city spokesperson said it should be around late summer.
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The first job fair being held by the city of Aurora will be on Thursday at the Santori Public Library, 101 S. River St. in downtown Aurora, from 1 to 4 p.m. City staff will be on-site with computers and tablets to help people fill out their online applications, according to a virtual city of Aurora newsletter.
Those looking to attend should bring a resume and a cellphone, plus have access to an email account, officials said in the newsletter.
Additional job fairs are planned to be held at the Aurora Public Works facility, 2185 Liberty St., from 3 to 6 p.m. May 26 and from 9 a.m. to noon June 6, a city spokesperson told The Beacon-News.
Aurora previously sought a recount after the 2020 decennial census showed the city had a population of around 180,000, down from 197,000 in 2010 — numbers that city officials have disputed, arguing that the city’s population is actually closer to the levels found in the 2010 census.
The perceived undercount, city officials have said, is costing the city about $4.3 million in lost tax revenue each year.
The Aurora City Council in 2024 agreed to pay the U.S. Census Bureau $1 million for a special census that it hoped would count additional residents. It was originally scheduled to start in early February 2025, but it faced multiple delays.
The federal government postponed the special census just one day before Aurora was set to hold its original kick-off event. When the federal government eventually came back with a new date, Aurora itself delayed the recount over concerns it would further undercount city residents, leading to even less state and federal funding.
Aurora Mayor John Laesch said later in the year that the city would be submitting for a partial census recount looking just at new construction, rather than trying to recount areas officials believed were previously undercounted.
In March, the Census Bureau began hiring for the special census, and the city again began to gear up for the push. But Laesch said during his State of the City Address last month that the federal government had again paused the special census.
The jobs were posted through the month of March, then were taken down on April 1 because of the partial federal government shutdown, but were put back up on April 30, according to a city spokesperson.
The Census Bureau needs a lot of people to apply, the spokesperson said, so that the initiative can be fully staffed and the city can get results in a timely manner.
More information about the special census can be found at yourvoice.aurora.il.us/specialcensus. Those looking to apply for a special census temporary position can go to www.aurora.il.us/SpecialCensusJobs.